Understanding Mary Using Typology in the Scriptures

The word “typology” comes from the Greek word tupos, which means type.  In the Sacred Scriptures, we can see examples of this language as follows:

Rom. 5:14 “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type (tupos) of the one who was to come.”

1Cor. 10:6 “Now these things were our examples (tupos), to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.”

OR as “shadows of the reality”

Heb.10:1 “FOR the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things…”

Heb.8:5 “They [priests] serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished … “See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.”

Note: The “TYPE” is always inferior to the “REALITY”

Type in the OT (Inferior)	Reality in the NT (Superior)
Adam	Jesus (Rom 5:14)
Joshua (name means “God Saves”)	Jesus (name means “God Saves”)
Passover	Eucharist (Last supper – Mt 26:26)
The Promised Land of Canaan	Heaven (Rev 3:12)
The Temple	Jesus (Jn 2:19-21)

Mary as Perpetual Virgin

How can Mary be a virgin if Jesus has brothers?

• Mt 13:55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brothers, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? (also Mk 6:3)
  • There was no term in Hebrew for cousin, uncle, etc. They called each other “brother” as part of their culture. For example . . .
  • Gen. 14:16 And he (Abram) brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother (Heb. “ahi”) Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
• “Brother” as a General Term
  • 1 Cor 1:10  “I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ  . . .
  • Acts 1:14-15  “All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty)
• Nowhere in scripture does it says that Mary had other children. The scriptures only says that Jesus had brothers.

• James and Joses are not blood brothers of Jesus
  • Mt 27:56  “Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.”
  • Mk 15:40  “Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses, and Salome.”
  • Jn 19:25  “Near the cross of Jesus there stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.”

1. Mary the wife of Clopas is the mother of James and Joseph (Mt 27:56). The only other place in scripture we find the 2 names James and Joseph together are in Mt 13:55 as Jesus’ “brothers,” along with their other brothers Judas and Simon.
2. Mary the mother of Jesus and her “sister”, Mary the wife of Clopas (Jn 19:25) are related, therefore James and Joseph are related to Jesus, but are not his blood brothers (not children of Mary).

• The Giving away of Mary by Jesus does not make sense if Jesus had brothers
• In Jewish tradition, the care of the mother goes to the next oldest son.
• Jn 19:26   Jesus at the cross says to his mother, “Woman, there is your son” and to John he says, “There is your mother.” {Jesus would not have given his mother to John if Jesus has brothers. This would be a grave insult to the next oldest brother.}
• Note: There are no other children mentioned when Joseph and Mary had to leave the caravan and look for Jesus in Jerusalem when he was 12 years old (Lk 2:41-46).
• Note: Jesus was conceived of the Hoy Spirit in the womb of Mary. The Holy Spirit is now the “spouse” of Mary. Joseph has become the guardian of the Blessed Virgin Mary and cannot have sexual relations with her because she “belongs to another.”
• Another objection to Mary’s perpetual virginity is the following use of “until” that seems to indicate Joseph had relations with Mary AFTER she had Jesus:
  • Mt 1:25 “but [Joseph] knew her not until she had borne a son;‡ and he called his name Jesus.”
  • The word “until” does not necessarily imply that something happened after Mary had borne a son. For example . . .
    • 2 Sam 6:23 “And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child until the day of her death.” This would mean that Michal was able to have children after her death.
    • 1 Kgs 6:22  “And he overlaid the whole house with gold until all the house was finished.” Which would mean the house was not overlaid with gold after it was finished.
    • 1 Cor 15:25 “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” This would mean that Christ would stop reigning after he put all his enemies under his feet. And many more examples . . .

Note: For reference, the Hebrew word for “until” is “ad” and the Greek word is “achri”

Historical Texts on Mary’s Perpetual Virginity

Origen (AD 248)

But some say, basing it on a tradition in the Gospel according to Peter, as it is entitled, or “The Book of James,” that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honor of Mary in virginity to the end, so that that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word which said, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee,” might not know intercourse with a man after that the Holy Ghost came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her.^[1]

Hilary of Poitiers

“If they [the brethren of the Lord] had been Mary’s sons and not those taken from Joseph’s former marriage, she would never have been given over in the moment of the passion [crucifixion] to the apostle John as his mother, the Lord saying to each, ‘Woman, behold your son,’ and to John, ‘Behold your mother’ [John 19:26–27], as he bequeathed filial loveLove To put the needs of another before our own. To will the good of the other. to a disciple as a consolation to the one desolate” (Commentary on Matthew 1:4 [A.D. 354]).

Athanasius

“Let those, therefore, who deny that the Son is by nature from the Father and proper to his essence deny also that he took true human flesh from the ever-virgin Mary” (Discourses Against the Arians 2:70 [A.D. 360]).

See Appendix A for more references

The Immaculate Conception (Born without Original Sin)

We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful. (excathedra pronouncement)

— Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854

[Original sin is defined as the deprived or fallen nature of humanity after the fall of Adam and Eve.]

The doctrine states that Mary, through a special grace given to her by her Son, she was born without original sin. Therefore, she, not having a deprived nature, did not sin all her life.

• Non-Catholics would say that she had to be a sinner since the scriptures state the following:
  • Romans 3:9-12, 22-23 – . . . they are all under sin; There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none that understands There is none that seeks after God; They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one.
• But, in context of Rom 3:9-12, it is quoting from Psalm 14 – there are the non-righteous and the righteous
  • Psalms 14:1-5; 53:1-5  Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And call not upon Yahweh? There were they in great fear; For God is in the generation of the righteous.
• There are others called “righteous” in the OT and NT:
  • Gen 6:9  Noah was a righteous man
  • Gen 15:6  Abraham was righteous (see also Rom  4:3)
  • Mk 6:20 Herod feared John [the Baptist], knowing that he was a righteous and holy man
  • Luke 1:6 And they (Elizabeth and Zacharias) were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless
  • Lk 23:50 Joseph of Arimathea . . . was a good and righteous man
  • All would agree that not ALL have sinned: Jesus, infants, the severely handicapped, etc.

Mary is the woman of Genesis 3:15 that is at odds with Satan

• Genesis 3:15 – and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Enmity is complete opposition. If Mary is in sin, then she is not at enmity with the devil.  
• Lk 1:28  “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” (Gk. kaire, kecharitomene) You cannot be “full of grace” and a sinner.

Mary is the New Eve

Eve is the type of Mary. Since death entered through the disobedience of a woman, Eve, eternal life now enters through the obedience of a woman, Mary. Since Eve was “conceived” without the stain of original sin, Mary would have to be conceived without original sin, since the reality (Mary) must be superior to the type, which is Eve.

God protects Mary from Satan

• Rev 12:13-16 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent . . .The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman. . . “

From History:  (see Appendix B for more references)

Therefore, I make an exception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whose case, out of respect for the Lord, I wish to raise no question at all when the discussion concerns sins—for whence do we know what an abundance of grace for entirely overcoming sin was conferred on her who had the merit to conceive and bear him who undoubtedly was without sin?^[2] (St. Augustine)

Mary’s Assumption – Body and Soul into Heaven

This doctrine was dogmatically defined by Pope Pius XII on 1 November 1950, in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus by exercising papal infallibility.

Non-Catholics would argue:

1 Corinthians 15:22-23 – For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits; then they that are Christ’s, at his coming. (no one rises before Christ’s coming)

Catholic Response: There “resurrections” before the 2^nd coming

Matthew 27:52-53 and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised.

Jn 12:1  Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

Bodily assumptions and the Bible

Point #1  It is possible for God to have assumed Mary body and soul into heaven. Everything is possible with God.

Point #2  The Bible does not mention Mary’s Assumption because she was still alive when all of scripture (except for the Book of Revelation, see Rev. 12:1f) was written.

Point #3  Bodily assumptions are not contrary to Scripture. There examples of bodily “assumptions” in the Bible:

Heb 11:5  ” By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God.” (see also Gen 5:24)

2 Kgs 2:11  ” And as they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Eli’jah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Eli’sha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.”

Point #4  There is no body on earth to disprove her assumption.  We have the bodies of almost every major figure in history, except for Christ and Mary.  No one even claims to have or have had Mary’s body, as is the custom of the Church since antiquity. (e.g. Peter, Paul, and King David’s tombs are in existence.)

Point #5  The wages of sin is death (corruption in the grave) Rom 6:23. Since Mary was without original sin (immaculately conceived) and sinless, it is likely that her body would not have remained on earth to decayed in the ground, just as Jesus died and his body did not decay in the ground.

From History:

Pseudo-Melito

“If therefore it might come to pass by the power of your grace, it has appeared right to us your servants that, as you, having overcome death, do reign in glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother and take her with you, rejoicing, into heaven. Then said the Savior [Jesus]: ‘Be it done according to your will’” (The Passing of the Virgin 16:2–17 [A.D. 300]).

Timothy of Jerusalem

“Therefore the Virgin is immortal to this day, seeing that he who had dwelt in her transported her to the regions of her assumption” (Homily on Simeon and Anna [A.D. 400]).

John the Theologian

“[T]he Lord said to his Mother, ‘Let your heart rejoice and be glad, for every favor and every gift has been given to you from my Father in heaven and from me and from the Holy Spirit’” (The Falling Asleep of Mary [A.D. 400]).

“And from that time forth all knew that the spotless and precious body had been transferred to paradise” (ibid.).

Mary as “Queen of Heaven”

• Non-Catholics say that because the pagans had a “Queen of Heaven”, the Catholic Church is practicing pagan traditions.
• Jer. 7:18 The children gather wood, their fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, while libations are poured out to strange gods in order to hurt me.
• The argument: Because pagans use the term “Queen of Heaven,” Catholics are worshiping a false god by calling Mary “Queen of Heaven.”
• Response: This is not a logical argument. If that were the case, we could not call God (Elohim in Hebrew), “God,” because the pagans used the same word for god (elohim) as the Jews/Christians.  Nor could we have a bible, because the pagans also had their own “biblos” or “bible” (Greed word for book).
• This logic of non-Catholics does not make sense. Since there is a “real” God amongst false gods, why can’t there be a true Queen of Heaven amongst a false Queen of Heaven?

• The King of Israel always appointed his mother as queen.

1 Kg 2:19-20  “Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. . . and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right.”

By using typology, Jesus is THE King of Israel and he would also pay homage to his mother and place her at his right.

• Why did the king of Israel appoint his mother as queen? Because . . .
• 1Kings 11:3 [Solomon] had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
•  All the kings of Judah had many wives and concubines. So, beginning with Solomon, the mother became queen. (See Is 13:18, Jer 29:2, 2 Chron 12:15, 2 Chron 15:16, 2 Kings 8:26 etc.)

God warned his people about the dangers of power, sex and wealth.

• Dt 17:16-17 But he shall not have a great number of horses . . . Neither shall he have a great number of wives, lest his heart be estranged, nor shall he accumulate a vast amount of silver and gold.

The Woman of Revelations 12

Rev. 12:1 A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

The woman represents Mary and is depicted as greater than the sun and moon gods of the pagans. Only a queen wears a crown.

• “Crown of 12 Stars”  – also symbolic of the angles (Rev 12:4) and the 12 Apostlesapostles In Christian theology, the apostles were Jesus’ closest followers and primary disciples, and were responsible for spreading his teachings., which then makes Mary, “Queen of Angels” and “Queen of Apostles.”

Mary as “The New Eve”

Using typology, we can also connect the fulfilment of Mary as the New Eve.

Eve	Mary
Eve is called, “the woman” in Gen 3:15	Mary is identified as “the woman” (Jn 2:4, Jn 19:26)
Mother of all the living. Gen. 3:20 And the man called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.	Mother of all alive in Christ. Rev. 12:17 . . . the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus.
Instrument by which sin entered the world through her disobedience	Instrument by which eternal life entered the world through her obedience
Created without sin, but then disobeyed God. Gen. 3:6 …So she took some of its fruit and ate it;	Created without sin and was obedient to God. Lk 1:38 “May it be done to me according to your word.”
Eve cooperated with Adam to bring death. Gen. 3:6 …So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.	Mary cooperated with Jesus, the new Adam to bring eternal life. 1Cor 15:45 “The first man, Adam, became a living being,” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

Mary as “The Woman”

The “protoevangelion” (“first gospel”) in Gen 3:15 was recognized by the Jews as a prophecy. This verse proclaimed the future coming of the messiah.

Gen. 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.”

• By identifying Mary as the woman of Gen 3:15, Jesus was identifying himself as the messiah.

John 2:3-4When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” [And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”

(Jesus was not disrespecting his mother by calling her “woman.” Any Jewish son that disrespected his parents, would be severely punished.)

• Jesus gives John the task of taking care of Mary.

John 19:26-27 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then said he to the disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home. (interesting note: the word is actually “ ‘their’ own” – plural)

Mary as the “Mother of God”

In the Council of Ephesus (AD 431), the Church condemned the heresy of Nestorianism. Nestorius was the patriarch of Constantinople that said Mary was “Christotokos” – Christ bearer, not “Theotokos” – God bearer, as the Church had taught. It denied the teaching of the hypostatic union and emphasized a radical distinction between the two natures (human and divine) of Jesus Christ. The council officially proclaimed Mary as the “Theotokos.”

• Mary is the mother of the 2^nd person of the Blessed Trinity incarnate.
• Mary is not the mother of the Blessed Trinity. She did not “create” God, but gave birth to Him in the person of Jesus.
• Mary is the mother of the Lord Jesus who is God even in her womb.
• Calling Jesus Lord is the same as calling him God. God is called “Lord” –
  • Psa. 68:5 Sing to God, praise the divine name; exalt the rider of the clouds. Rejoice before this God whose name is the LORD.
  • John 20:28 Thomas answered and said unto him [Jesus], My Lord and my God.
• Luke 1:43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come unto me?

Historical References to Mary and the Mother of God

Council of Ephesus (AD 431)

This was the sentiment of the holy Fathers; therefore they ventured to call the holy Virgin, the Mother of God, not as if the nature of the Word or his divinity had its beginning from the holy Virgin, but because of her was born that holy body with a rational soul, to which the Word being personally united is said to be born according to the flesh. ^[3]

Cyril of Alexandria, Twelve Anathemas against Nestorius 1

If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Θεοτοκόσς), inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [as it is written, “The Word was made flesh”]: let him be anathema.^[4]

See Appendix C for more references to Mary as Mother of God

Mary as Our Mother

John 19:26-27 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then said he to the disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home. (Gk. Eis ta ida – unto their own. The word “home” is not present in the Greek text.)

Through reasoning and the scriptures we can discover that Mary is our mother.

• Rom 8:29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Since we are brothers of Jesus through adoption . . .

• Rom 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “ Abba, Father!”

We also have Jesus’ mother, Mary, as our spiritual mother.

• Rev 12:17 Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her seed (Gk. Sperma), those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus.  As Christians we have “the Woman” as our mother because we are her seed through Jesus her son.

Mary as “Ark of the New Covenant”

Revelation 11:19-12:1           

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. AND there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

The Ark contained the following 3 items (see Heb 9:4) Manna – bread from heaven; gave life to the Israelites in the desert. (Ex 16:4)The 10 Commandments – The Word of God (Ex 20:1f)Aaron’s staff/rod – High priest (Ex 7:9-12)

Mary’s womb contained the following 3 items Jesus – The bread come down from heaven (Jn 6) and The bread of life (Jn 6:48)Jesus – The Word of God (Jn 1:14)   Jesus – Our High Priest  (Heb 3:1)

The Ark was “overshadowed” by the “Cloud”.  (Ex 40:34)   The Ark traveled through the “hill country” (2 Sam 6:3)   David said, “how can the Ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Sam 6:9)   The Ark was with Obed Edom For 3 months (2 Sam 6:11)   David “leaped” before the Ark  (2 Sam 6:16) And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with joy. (2Sam. 6:12)   So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of Jehovah with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. (2Sam. 6:15)   The Ark was holy and pure.

Mary was “overshadowed” by the Holy Spirit.  (Lk 1:35)   Mary traveled through the “hill country” to Elizabeth’s house (Lk 1:39)   Elizabeth said, “who am I that the mother of my lord should come to me.” (Lk 1:43)   Mary was with Elizabeth For 3 months  (Lk 1:56)   John the Baptist “leaped” at hearing Mary’s voice  (Lk 1:41) And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. (Luke 1:47)     and she (Elizabeth) lifted up her voice with a loud cry  (Luke 1:42)     Mary was holy and pure – she was “full of grace” and “blessed among all women.” (Lk 1:28; Lk 1:48)

Mary, in a particular way, participated in the “crushing of Satan’s head.”  She is called “Blessed among all women” in Lk 1:48

This title of “blessed among women” is from the OT types (pre-figurements):

• Jael in Judges 5:24-26 “Crushed Sisera’s head” and is called “Blessed among women.”
• Judith in Judith 13:18 “Beheads Holofernes” and is called “Blessed among women.”

These were tyrannical and evil men that persecuted the Israelites and were defeated by the courage of a woman.

Mary also “crushes” the head of the evil one by bringing forth the Messiah. She also prophesied that everyone in the future will call her “blessed.”

• Luke 1:41-42, 48 – Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit . . . and said, Blessed art thou among women, ; Mary says, “from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

Appendix A

Mary as Perpetual Virgin

Epiphanius of Salamis (AD 374)

“who for us men and for our salvation came down and took flesh, that is, was born perfectly of the holy ever-virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit” ^[5]

For the Only-begotten alone assumed a body, and was made perfect man of the ever-virgin Mary, by the Holy Spirit, not by a man’s seed. [6]

Didymus the Blind

“It helps us to understand the terms ‘first-born’ and ‘only-begotten’ when the Evangelist tells that Mary remained a virgin ‘until she brought forth her first-born son’ [Matt. 1:25]; for neither did Mary, who is to be honored and praised above all others, marry anyone else, nor did she ever become the Mother of anyone else, but even after childbirth she remained always and forever an immaculate virgin” (The Trinity 3:4 [A.D. 386]).

Ambrose of Milan

“Imitate her [Mary], holy mothers, who in her only dearly beloved Son set forth so great an example of material virtue; for neither have you sweeter children [than Jesus], nor did the Virgin seek the consolation of being able to bear another son” (Letters 63:111 [A.D. 388]).

Pope Siricius I

“You had good reason to be horrified at the thought that another birth might issue from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the flesh. For the Lord Jesus would never have chosen to be born of a virgin if he had ever judged that she would be so incontinent as to contaminate with the seed of human intercourse the birthplace of the Lord’s body, that court of the eternal king” (Letter to Bishop Anysius [A.D. 392]).

Augustine

“In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain a Virgin even before she knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a slave” (Holy Virginity 4:4 [A.D. 401]).

“It was not the visible sun, but its invisible Creator who consecrated this day for us, when the Virgin Mother, fertile of womb and integral in her virginity, brought him forth, made visible for us, by whom, when he was invisible, she too was created. A Virgin conceiving, a Virgin bearing, a Virgin pregnant, a Virgin bringing forth, a Virgin perpetual. Why do you wonder at this, O man?” (Sermons 186:1 [A.D. 411]).

“Heretics called Antidicomarites are those who contradict the perpetual virginity of Mary and affirm that after Christ was born she was joined as one with her husband” (Heresies 56 [A.D. 428]).

Leporius

“We confess, therefore, that our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of the Father before the ages, and in times most recent, made man of the Holy Spirit and the ever-virgin Mary” (Document of Amendment 3 [A.D. 426]).

Cyril of Alexandria

“[T]he Word himself, coming into the Blessed Virgin herself, assumed for himself his own temple from the substance of the Virgin and came forth from her a man in all that could be externally discerned, while interiorly he was true God. Therefore he kept his Mother a virgin even after her childbearing” (Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God 4 [A.D. 430]).

Pope Leo I

“His [Christ’s] origin is different, but his [human] nature is the same. Human usage and custom were lacking, but by divine power a Virgin conceived, a Virgin bore, and Virgin she remained” (Sermons 22:2 [A.D. 450]).

Council of Chalcedon (AD 451)

Possibly his reason for thinking that our Lord Jesus Christ was not of our nature was this—that the Angel who was sent to the blessed and ever Virgin Mary^[7]

2^nd Council of Constantinople (AD 553)

If anyone shall not call in a true acceptation, but only in a false acceptation, the holy, glorious, and ever-virgin Mary, the Mother of God,^[8]

Fragments of Papias (AD 95-110)

X.⁶

(1.) Mary the mother of the Lord; (2.) Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alphæus, who was the mother of James the bishop and apostle, and of Simon and Thaddeus, and of one Joseph; (3.) Mary Salome, wife of Zebedee, mother of John the evangelist and James; (4.) Mary Magdalene. These four are found in the Gospel. James and Judas and Joseph were sons of an aunt (2) of the Lord’s. James also and John were sons of another aunt (3) of the Lord’s. Mary (2), mother of James the Less and Joseph, wife of Alphæus was the sister of Mary the mother of the Lord, whom John names of Cleophas, either from her father or from the family of the clan, or for some other reason. Mary Salome (3) is called Salome either from her husband or her village. Some affirm that she is the same as Mary of Cleophas, because she had two husbands.^[9]

Appendix B

Mary as Immaculately Conceived (without sin)

Justin Martyr (AD 155) – Mary as the new Eve

He  [Jesus] became man by the Virgin . . . For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her:^[10]

Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 350)

Through Eve yet virgin came death; through a virgin, or rather from a virgin [Mary], must the Life appear: that as the serpent beguiled the one, so to the other Gabriel might bring good tidings^13,[11]

He who formed Adam formed Eve also, and male and female were formed by God’s hands. None of the members of the body as formed from the beginning is polluted ^[12]

Ephraim the Syrian (AD 361)

“You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any others, for there is no blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of my children can compare in beauty to these?” (Nisibene Hymns 27:8).

Ambrose of Milan

“Come, then, and search out your sheep, not through your servants or hired men, but do it yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh, which is fallen in Adam. Lift me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a virgin not only undefiled, but a virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain of sin” (Commentary on Psalm 118:22–30 [A.D. 387]).

John the Theologian

“And from that time forth all knew that the spotless and precious body had been transferred to paradise” (The Falling Asleep of Mary [A.D. 400]).

Augustine (AD 400)

Therefore, I make an exception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whose case, out of respect for the Lord, I wish to raise no question at all when the discussion concerns sins—for whence do we know what an abundance of grace for entirely overcoming sin was conferred on her who had the merit to conceive and bear him who undoubtedly was without sin?^[13] (St. Augustine)

Augustine (AD 400)

The Virgin Mary therefore excepted, if we were to bring together all these saints, men and women, while they lived here and ask them whether they were without sin, what can we suppose would be their answer?^[14]

And what more undefiled than the womb of the Virgin, whose flesh, although it came from procreation tainted by sin, nevertheless did not conceive from that source?^[15]

Appendix C

Mary as Mother of God

Irenaeus

“The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God” (Against Heresies, 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]).

Hippolytus

“[T]o all generations they [the prophets] have pictured forth the grandest subjects for contemplation and for action. Thus, too, they preached of the advent of God in the flesh to the world, his advent by the spotless and God-bearing (theotokos) Mary in the way of birth and growth” (Discourse on the End of the World 1 [A.D. 217]).

Gregory the Wonderworker

“For Luke, in the inspired Gospel narratives, delivers a testimony not to Joseph only, but also to Mary, the Mother of God, and gives this account with reference to the very family and house of David” (Four Homilies 1 [A.D. 262]).

“It is our duty to present to God, like sacrifices, all the festivals and hymnal celebrations; and first of all, [the feast of] the Annunciation to the holy Mother of God, to wit, the salutation made to her by the angel, ‘Hail, full of grace!’” (ibid., 2).

Peter of Alexandria

“They came to the church of the most blessed Mother of God, and ever-virgin Mary, which, as we began to say, he had constructed in the western quarter, in a suburb, for a cemetery of the martyrs” (The Genuine Acts of Peter of Alexandria [A.D. 305]).

“We acknowledge the resurrection of the dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord became the firstling; he bore a body not in appearance but in truth derived from Mary the Mother of God” (Letter to All Non-Egyptian Bishops 12 [A.D. 324]).

Methodius

“While the old man [Simeon] was thus exultant, and rejoicing with exceeding great and holy joy, that which had before been spoken of in a figure by the prophet Isaiah, the holy Mother of God now manifestly fulfilled” (Oration on Simeon and Anna 7 [A.D. 305]).

“Hail to you forever, you virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto you do I again return. . . . Hail, you fount of the Son’s love for man. . . . Wherefore, we pray you, the most excellent among women, who boast in the confidence of your maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate your memory, which will ever live, and never fade away” (ibid., 14).

Cyril of Jerusalem

“The Father bears witness from heaven to his Son. The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in the form of a dove. The archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing the good tidings to Mary. The Virgin Mother of God bears witness” (Catechetical Lectures 10:19 [A.D. 350]).

Ephraim the Syrian

“Though still a virgin she carried a child in her womb, and the handmaid and work of his wisdom became the Mother of God” (Songs of Praise 1:20 [A.D. 351]).

Athanasius

“The Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly, and eternally, is he that is born in time here below of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God” (The Incarnation of the Word of God 8 [A.D. 365]).

Epiphanius of Salamis

“Being perfect at the side of the Father and incarnate among us, not in appearance but in truth, he [the Son] reshaped man to perfection in himself from Mary the Mother of God through the Holy Spirit” (The Man Well-Anchored 75 [A.D. 374]).

Ambrose of Milan

“The first thing which kindles ardor in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose?” (The Virgins 2:2[7] [A.D. 377]).

Gregory of Nazianz

“If anyone does not agree that holy Mary is Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead” (Letter to Cledonius the Priest 101 [A.D. 382]).

Jerome

“As to how a virgin became the Mother of God, he [Rufinus] has full knowledge; as to how he himself was born, he knows nothing” (Against Rufinus 2:10 [A.D. 401]).

“Do not marvel at the novelty of the thing, if a Virgin gives birth to God” (Commentaries on Isaiah 3:7:15 [A.D. 409]).

Theodore of Mopsuestia

“When, therefore, they ask, ‘Is Mary mother of man or Mother of God?’ we answer, ‘Both!’ The one by the very nature of what was done and the other by relation” (The Incarnation 15 [A.D. 405]).

Cyril of Alexandria

“I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God?” (Letter to the Monks of Egypt 1 [A.D. 427]).

“This expression, however, ‘the Word was made flesh’ [John 1:14], can mean nothing else but that he partook of flesh and blood like to us; he made our body his own, and came forth man from a woman, not casting off his existence as God, or his generation of God the Father, but even in taking to himself flesh remaining what he was. This the declaration of the correct faith proclaims everywhere. This was the sentiment of the holy Fathers; therefore they ventured to call the holy Virgin ‘the Mother of God,’ not as if the nature of the Word or his divinity had its beginning from the holy Virgin, but because of her was born that holy body with a rational soul, to which the Word, being personally united, is said to be born according to the flesh” (First Letter to Nestorius [A.D. 430]).

“And since the holy Virgin corporeally brought forth God made one with flesh according to nature, for this reason we also call her Mother of God, not as if the nature of the Word had the beginning of its existence from the flesh” (Third Letter to Nestorius [A.D. 430]).

“If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the holy Virgin is the Mother of God, inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [John 1:14]: let him be anathema” (ibid.).

John Cassian

“Now, you heretic, you say (whoever you are who deny that God was born of the Virgin), that Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be called the Mother of God, but the Mother only of Christ and not of God—for no one, you say, gives birth to one older than herself. And concerning this utterly stupid argument . . . let us prove by divine testimonies both that Christ is God and that Mary is the Mother of God” (On the Incarnation of Christ Against Nestorius 2:2 [A.D. 429]).

“You cannot then help admitting that the grace comes from God. It is God, then, who has given it. But it has been given by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is God. But if he is God, as he certainly is, then she who bore God is the Mother of God” (ibid., 2:5).

Council of Ephesus

“We confess, then, our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God and perfect man, of a rational soul and a body, begotten before all ages from the Father in his Godhead, the same in the last days, for us and for our salvation, born of Mary the Virgin according to his humanity, one and the same consubstantial with the Father in Godhead and consubstantial with us in humanity, for a union of two natures took place. Therefore we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord. According to this understanding of the unconfused union, we confess the holy Virgin to be the Mother of God because God the Word took flesh and became man and from his very conception united to himself the temple he took from her” (Formula of Union [A.D. 431]).

Vincent of Lerins

“Nestorius, whose disease is of an opposite kind, while pretending that he holds two distinct substances in Christ, brings in of a sudden two persons, and with unheard-of wickedness would have two sons of God, two Christs,—one, God, the other, man; one, begotten of his Father, the other, born of his mother. For which reason he maintains that Saint Mary ought to be called, not the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ” (The Notebooks 12[35] [A.D. 434]).

---

‡ 1:25: This means only that Joseph had nothing to do with the conception of Jesus. It implies nothing as to what happened afterward.

^[1] Origen, “Origen’s Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew,” in Commentary on Matthew, Books I, II, and X-XIV, ed. Allan Menzies, trans. John Patrick, vol. 9, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1897), 424.

^[2] Augustine of Hippo, Four Anti-Pelagian Writings, ed. Thomas P. Halton, trans. John A. Mourant and William J. Collinge, vol. 86, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1992), 53–54.

^[3] Cyril of Alexandria, “The Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius,” Letter 4 in The Seven Ecumenical Councils, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Henry R. Percival, vol. 14, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900), 198–205.

^[4] Cyril of Alexandria, “The XII Anathematisms of St. Cyril against Nestorius,” in The Seven Ecumenical Councils, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Henry R. Percival, vol. 14, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900), 206.

^[5] W. A. Jurgens, trans., The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol. 2 (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1970–1979), 70.

[6] The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Section IV, pg. 125, E.J. Brill, Leiden New York, Koln, 1994

^[7] Leo the Great, “The Tome of St. Leo,” in The Seven Ecumenical Councils, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Henry R. Percival, vol. 14, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900), 255.

^[8] Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, eds., “The Second Council of Constantinople: The Capitula of the Council,” in The Seven Ecumenical Councils, trans. Henry R. Percival, vol. 14, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900), 313.

⁶ This fragment was found by Grabe in a ms. of the Bodleian Library, with the inscription on the margin, “Papia.” Westcott states that it forms part of a dictionary written by “a mediæval Papias. [He seems to have added the words, “Maria is called Illuminatrix, or Star of the Sea,” etc, a middle-age device.] The dictionary exists in ms. both at Oxford and Cambridge.”

^[9] Papias, “Fragments of Papias,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 155.

^[10] Justin Martyr, “Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 249.

¹³ Justin M. (Tryph. § 100): “Eve, when she was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death: but the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the Angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her.”

^[11] Cyril of Jerusalem, “The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem,” in S. Cyril of Jerusalem, S. Gregory Nazianzen, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. R. W. Church and Edwin Hamilton Gifford, vol. 7, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1894), 75.

^[12] Cyril of Jerusalem, “The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem,” in S. Cyril of Jerusalem, S. Gregory Nazianzen, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. R. W. Church and Edwin Hamilton Gifford, vol. 7, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1894), 79.

^[13] Augustine of Hippo, Four Anti-Pelagian Writings, ed. Thomas P. Halton, trans. John A. Mourant and William J. Collinge, vol. 86, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic Univ. of America Press, 1992), 53–54.

^[14] Augustine of Hippo, Four Anti-Pelagian Writings, 54.

^[15] St. Augustine, St. Augustine: The Literal Meaning of Genesis, ed. Johannes Quasten, Walter J. Burghardt, and Thomas Comerford Lawler, trans. John Hammond Taylor, 42nd ed., vol. II, Ancient Christian Writers (New York; Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press, 1982), 120.